India’s Water CrisisEl Niño,

Monsoon, and

Indian Ocean Oscillation

Introduction: India and its Water Management Crisis

• Man-made Crisis

• Overpumping – lack of law managing the extraction of groundwater

• Crumbling Infrastructure – storage crunch

• Population Growth

• Pollution – Industrial Waste, Rivers as Sewage System

• Global Warming – chaotic weather pattern

El Niño & Monsoon

• El Niño – warm phase in Eastern Pacific Ocean

• Far reaching impacts, for example on Indian Monsoon

Monsoon

• Monsoon – seasonal shift in airflows

• Wet summers

• Dry winters

El Nino’s Effects on the Indian Water Crisis

• Basic Level

• El Nino (warm event) leads to eastward shift of Walker Circulation -> dry conditions over India -> weaker monsoon -> drought

• La Nina (cold event) leads to westward shift of Walker circulation -> wet conditions over India -> stronger monsoon -> flood

• Deeper Level

• K. Krishna Kumar, et. al. - “Unraveling the Mystery of the Indian Monsoon Failure During El Nino” - 2006

• Investigates why severe droughts in India are always accompanied by El Nino events, but El Nino does not always produce severe droughts

• Ultimately determines that strength and position of Walker Circulation branches are related to El Nino warming and that location of sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly is what affects monsoon failure or success

Indian Ocean Oscillation

• ENSO variability influences extreme events occuring in Indian Ocean

• Ocean atmosphere coupling -> ENSO-Asian Monsoon interaction

• Indian Ocean Dipole Mode event -> induces unusual circulation/ rainfall over India

• Net Effect: Disruptive floods in some areas, droughts in others

Policy Recommendations

• Create Economic Incentive to Stop Pollution

• Invest in Water Harvesting & Storage Structures

• Inter-Basin Water Transfer

• Education